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Lotto scholarships exceed expectations

Alamogordo
Published 7:00 a.m. MT May 29, 2015

New Mexico Higher Education Secretary Barbara Damron tells a legislative committee in Santa Fe on Thursday that she was setting the in-state tuition assistance for university and college students at about 90 percent of full tuition costs next school year. The amount of assistance for New Mexico's lottery scholarships will be larger than expected thanks to lower student enrollment, but it won´t cover 100 percent of tuition costs next year, she said.(Photo: AP Photo &#8212; Russell Contreras)

SANTA FE >> The amount of assistance for New Mexico's lottery scholarships will be larger than expected thanks to lower student enrollment, but it won't cover 100 percent of tuition costs next year, the New Mexico Higher Education Department announced Thursday.

State Higher Education Secretary Barbara Damron told a legislative committee that she was setting the in-state tuition assistance for university and college students at about 90 percent of full tuition costs next school year. Damron said she set the percentage after state officials determined that lottery revenues would exceed projections.

Lawmakers had feared that the amount of assistance could drop to about 80 percent of costs because bickering legislators failed to bolster the state's Legislative Lottery Scholarship program's financial underpinnings.

But Damron said in addition to the rise in revenue and a drop in student enrollment, more money will be available since the new 15-credit hour requirement will reduce eligibility for the lottery scholarship.

"The letter will go out (today)," Damron told members of the New Mexico Legislative Education Study Committee.

Lottery officials say annual demand tops $60 million.

The department estimated tuition averages about $2,500 a semester at the three research universities, about $1,500 for other four-year colleges and $600 at two-year community colleges.

At New Mexico State University, a total of 3,338 students received the Legislative Lottery Scholarship during the just-concluded spring semester, according to Dacia Sedillo, NMSU's associate vice president of enrollment management. In January, after it was announced that the scholarship would cover 95 percent of the average tuition for the spring semester, NMSU agreed to pay the remaining $129 for all of the scholarship recipients.

Sedillo said that it's unlikely that the university will be able to continue that practice this fall when the scholarship will cover 90 percent.

"Given NMSU's current budgetary situation, it is unlikely we will be able to fund the 10 percent gap for our main campus students who are not on an institutional merit-based scholarship award," Sedillo said. "As always, we are committed to funding the difference for those new and continuing students who qualify for those (merit-based) awards."

Thursday's announcement comes after state officials warned last year that scholarship reductions were likely for all students because lottery proceeds haven't kept pace with rising college tuition and demand for financial assistance.

Under the program, students at research universities — the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech — must take 15 credit hours a semester to qualify for a scholarship.

Solvency of the program has been an issue for nearly a decade.

Damron said she believed the decline in student enrollment was a result of the economy improving in New Mexico. "When the economy is doing poorly people go back to school," she said.